The Seventh (April) All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.(B.)

APRIL 24–29, 1917

Resolution on the Soviets

      of Workers’ And Soldiers’ Deputies

TheConference has discussed the reports and communications of
      comrades working in the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
      Deputies in different parts of Russia and states that:

Inmany provincial areas the revolution is progressing in the
      following way: the proletariat and the peasantry, on their own
      initiative, are organising Soviets and dismissing the old
      authorities; a proletarian and peasant militia is being set up;
      all lands are being transferred to the peasants; workers’
      control over the factories and the eight-hour day have been
      introduced and wages have been increased; production is being
      maintained, and workers control the distribution of food, etc.

Thisgrowth of the revolution in the provinces in depth and
      scope is, on the one hand, the growth of a movement for
      transferring all power to the Soviets and putting the workers
      and peasants themselves in control of production. on the other
      hand, it serves as a guarantee for the build-up of forces, on a
      national scale, for the second stage of the revolution, which
      must transfer all state power to the Soviets or to other organs
      directly expressing the will of the majority of the nation
      (organs of local self-government, the Constituent Assembly,
      etc.).

Inthe capitals and in a few other large cities the task of
      transferring state power to the Soviets is particularly
      difficult and requires an especially long period of preparation
      of the proletariat’s forces. This is where the largest forces of
      the bourgeoisie are concentrated, where a policy of compromise
      with the bourgeoisie is most strongly in evidence, a policy
      which often holds back the revolutionary initiative of the
      masses andweakens their independence; this is particularly
      dangerous in view of the leading role of these Soviets for the
      provinces.

Itis, therefore, the task of the proletarian party, on the one
      hand, to support in every possible way the indicated development
      of the revolution locally, and, on the other to conduct a
      systematic struggle within the Soviets (by means of propaganda
      and new elections) for the triumph of the proletarian line. The
      party must concentrate all its efforts and all its attention on
      winning over the mass of workers and soldiers, and must draw a
      line between the policy of the proletariat and that of the petty
      bourgeoisie, between the internationalist policy and the
      defencist policy, between the revolutionary and the opportunist
      policy. The party must organise and arm the workers and build up
      their forces for the next stage of the revolution.

TheConference repeats that it is necessary to carry out
      many-sided activity within the Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’
      Deputies, to increase the number of Soviets, to consolidate
      their power, and to weld together our Party’s proletarian
      internationalist groups within the Soviets.